Abstract
Introduction Hydrometeorological disasters, which have occurred twice as frequently since 1996, kill almost 1,200 people worldwide per week. These events often precipitate massive landslides, whose role in overall mortality has not been established. We investigated deaths from landslides in Chunk during Tropical Storm Chata'an July 2–4, 2002, to characterize mortality and formulate preventive strategies. Methods We reviewed death certificates identified by the state hospital and calculated mortality rates using the state population census. We defined case subjects as people who died from trauma or suffocation due to landslides and control subjects as people present at the site and time of the landslide. We interviewed case proxies and control subjects to compare demographic, behavioral, and structural characteristics. Unconditional logistic regression was used to obtain effect estimates. Results We identified 43 deaths from 12 landslides occurring on six islands, with an overall mortality of 1.47 deaths per 1000 habitants. Almost 90% died immediately, 56% were female, and 52% were children < 15 years of age. We interviewed 40 case proxies and 52 control subjects. Though the landslides occurred over a 12-hour period, 74% of interviewees were previously unaware of other landslides, and 83% did not know that landslides could accompany tropical storms. Prior awareness of landslides (odds ratio [OR]=0.21; 95% confidence interval [CI] =0.06-0.77) was protective, and attention to warning signs such as rushing water and rumbling earth remained protective even after adjustments for age and awareness (adjusted OR=0.09; 95% CI=0.02-0.45). Conclusions Our results suggest that viable risk reduction strategies include improving communication systems and targeting community preparedness to include knowledge of landslide hazards during tropical storms.
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